Awards

2017

Carol Robles-Román Honored with ABA’s Sharon L. Corbitt Award

On August 11, the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence will honor Carol Robles-Román with the 2017 Sharon L. Corbitt Award at the commission’s annual awards breakfast in New York City. The annual award recognizes an individual lawyer for exemplary service to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Carol is being honored for her body of work to increase access to justice and provision of outstanding legal services for victims, for serving as a leader and a champion for victims, and for achieving legislation and litigation outcomes that contribute to increased safety and justice for victims. As well as leading Legal Momentum for the past three years, Carol led initiatives to combat domestic and sexual violence, such as helping to establish Family Justice Centers in all five boroughs, when she was New York City Deputy Mayor and Legal Counsel to Mayor Bloomberg. She frequently speaks publicly on these topics for a variety of audiences.

2016

Penny Venetis, Legal Momentum's Executive Vice President and Legal Director, was one of 25 recipients of the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from the New Jersey Law Journal, an American Law Media publication. The honorees were selected for the significant impact their work has had in shaping New Jersey law.

At its biennial luncheon on April 15, 2016, the Center for Women in Law (CWIL) presented its Hortense Ward Courageous Leader Award to Legal Momentum honorary board member and former board chair Michele Coleman Mayes. CWIL stated that "Michele Coleman Mayes exemplifies Ward's tenacity, courage, and commitment through her efforts to achieve gender parity in positions of leadership, influence, and responsibility in the legal profession." Ms. Mayes is Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary for the New York Public Library.

2015

ABA 20/20 Vision Awards for Legal Momentum’s Landmark Work on the Violence Against Women Act

In July, 2015, the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence bestowed its 2015 20/20 Vision Award on three current and former Legal Momentum attorneys for their work spanning 20 years leading powerful movements to pass the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). VAWA radically changed the justice system’s response to victims of domestic and sexual violence. Legal Momentum’s Lisalyn Jacobs, Vice President for Government Relations, and two former Staff Attorneys, Sally Goldfarb and Julie Goldscheid, are among the 20 trailblazers who were instrumental in mobilizing the legal profession against domestic and sexual violence.

The National Women's Political Caucus Legal Momentum's President and CEO, Carol Robles-Román, with its "Woman of Courage" award at its Biennial Convention, where she was a keynote speaker, in July 2015. The award recognizes women from diverse backgrounds who have devoted their careers to furthering civil rights and equality, and who exemplify women's leadership. NWPC is a grass-roots, multi-partisan organization established in 1970 to help elect progressive women to office.

Carol Robles-Román Named 2015 Ford Public Voices Fellow

In a highly competitive process, Legal Momentum's President and CEO, Carol Robles-Román, was chosen as a 2015 Ford Public Voices Fellow. The Ford Foundation Public Voices Fellowship is part of a national initiative by The OpEd Project, in partnership with leading academic institutions and foundations, to dramatically increase the public impact of our nation’s top thought leaders. The Fellowship is supported by the Ford Foundation’s Women’s Human Rights Initiative. The Public Voices Fellows are considered one of the most powerful networks for impact in the nation.

The Public Leadership Education Network (PLEN) introduces college women to role models, career paths, and skills training before they enter the workforce. On the occasion of PLEN’s 35th anniversary, Legal Momentum’s Vice President for Government Relations, Lisalyn R. Jacobs (an alumna of the program), was honored for her outstanding contributions to public policy, including helping to pass the landmark Violence Against Women Act and its several reauthorizations. Lisalyn received the award on March 18, 2015 at an event hosted by former Congresswoman and Ambassador Connie Morella and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton.

2014

The Mary Byron Project awarded Legal Momentum’s National Judicial Education Program (NJEP) its 2014 Celebrating Solutions Award. This award recognizes NJEP’s groundbreaking effort to educate judges and justice system professionals about the intersection of sexual assault and domestic violence and its critical implications for the safety of victims and their children. NJEP has developed an extensive interactive web course titled Intimate Partner Sexual Abuse: Adjudicating This Hidden Dimension of Domestic Violence Cases, published articles and training curricula, and educated thousands of judges and other professionals on the topic. All of NJEP’s resources on adult victim sexual assault can be accessed here. The Mary Byron Project was established in memory of the young woman whose tragic murder led to the creation of automated crime victim notification technologies.

At a luncheon at the Harvard Club in New York on October 21, the Veteran Feminists of America (VFA) honored Muriel Fox, a co-founder of NOW and of Legal Momentum and an honorary member of Legal Momentum's board of directors, for her brilliant efforts on behalf of the women's movement in general and Legal Momentum in particular. Muriel has been active as a feminist organizer, speaker, writer, editor, and events chair since the 1960s and is a leader of the modern women's movement. Feminist icon Gloria Steinem presented the Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 2008, VFA also honored Legal Momentum's Lynn Hecht Schafran and past board and staff members, including 1970s board members Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sylvia Roberts and our first legal director, Phyllis Segal, at its Salute to Feminist Lawyers 1963-1975.

Carol Robles-Román Named New York Brava! Award Winner

On September 23, 2014, Legal Momentum's President and CEO, Carol Robles-Román, received a 2014 Brava! Award from New York SmartCEO magazine. The Brava! awards recognize the New York area's top female CEOs for their entrepreneurial spirit and passion for giving back to the community. The 40 winners, who were chosen from more than 200 nominations, were also profiled in the September/October issue of New York SmartCEO.

Lynn Hecht Schafran Honored with ABA’s Sharon L. Corbitt Award

On August 8th, 2014, in Boston, the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence honored Legal Momentum’s Senior Vice President and Director of its National Judicial Education Program, Lynn Hecht Schafran, with the 2014 Sharon L. Corbitt Award. The award recognizes lawyers who demonstrate exemplary service to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and/or stalking. Lynn was honored for her work leading NJEP, a project of Legal Momentum in cooperation with the National Association of Women Judges. As NJEP’s director since 1981, Ms. Schafran has developed or co-authored several model judicial education curricula and an interactive web course on topics related to sexual assault, domestic violence, and intimate partner sexual abuse. She has presented programs for numerous national, state, and federal judicial colleges as well as workshops and presentations for multidisciplinary audiences nationwide. She has written widely on these topics for a variety of audiences. These resources are available on the NJEP website.

Lynn Hecht Schafran Receives EVAWI’s Visionary Award

Legal Momentum’s Lynn Hecht Schafran, is the distinguished recipient of the 2014 Visionary Award presented at the End Violence Against Women International (EVAWI) International Conference on Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence and Trafficking in Seattle in April, 2014.

The Visionary Award recognizes individuals for their vision and leadership in ending violence against women. EVAWI cited Ms. Schafran for her years of dedicated service as a leader in the legal field, a profound and prolific writer, and an incisive legal scholar, stating that “Her work to bring educational programming to judges currently hearing these cases has been both groundbreaking and transformational.”